2.

Docks
The city’s docks are likewise rundown; most have
fallen into ruin, though a few are kept in something
resembling repair by gnome mariners who need to
offload cargo. At least one gnomish vessel is in port at
any time, though its sailors tend to stick close to their
ships. Cargo is loaded and offloaded at the docks,
then portaged up to the city by human slaves driven
by whip-wielding human or troll overseers.
Orcs are not fond of the sea, and typically avoid
the docks if possible.
3. Waterfront
The only part of Highwall that
is still even marginally functional, the
waterfront still contains some
warehouse space, inns and taverns,
and facilities for the
gnome sailors who bring goods
to and from the city. Despite
this, the waterfront and the
entire lower portion of the city is in
terrible disrepair, and large portions
lie in ruins, burned or ransacked. The
population consists of some free
humans, gnome merchants and
sailors, legates, and human soldiers
in Izrador’s thrall. The few
orcs encountered on the waterfront
are typically grim, quarrelsome, and
more violent than usual.
4. Basko’s Inn
One of a handful of functioning inns along
Highwall’s waterfront, Basko’s place is relatively comfortable,
though it suffers from shortages, disrepair, and
periodic raids by the legates, who have absolute authority
over everyone and everything in Highwall. Basko
himself is a gnome merchant and sailor who set up shop
in Highwall after being badly injured and stranded when
his captain sailed without him. He does his best to cooperate
with the authorities, but so far his inn—which
caters to gnome sailors and the occasional free human
who passes through—has only barely kept him alive.
The legates periodically tax Basko’s stores, and because
coin is basically worthless in Highwall, the inn operates
at a barely subsistence level.
Basko, male gnome commoner 6: CR 5; Small
Humanoid (3 ft. 1 in.); HD 5d4+3; hp 15; Init +0; Spd
20 ft. (4 squares); AC 10, touch 10, flat-footed 10; Base
Atk +3; Grp –1; Atk/Full Atk +4 melee (1d4, club); AL
CG; SV Fort +6, Ref +2, Will +4; Str 10, Dex 11, Con
13, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 13.
Skills: Climb +3, Craft (cook) +5, Handle Animal
+3, Jump +2, Listen +5, Profession (innkeeper) +5,
Profession (sailor) +9, Ride +2, Spot +6, Swim +5, Use
Rope +4. Feats: Great Fortitude, Skill Focus
(Profession [sailor]), Toughness.
Languages: Trader’s Tongue, Erenlander,
Norther, Orcish.
Possessions: Clothing, apron, club.
Appearance and Personality: Basko seems
to be trying hard to maintain appearances.
Though his clothes are ragged, they are clean
and he wears a traditional innkeeper’s apron
that has been repeatedly patched until
little or nothing of its original fabric
remains. He is surprisingly burly for a
gnome, balding and red-faced, mustering
as much good cheer as he can under
the circumstances.
After being stranded in Highwall,
Basko scraped together the minimal
resources he had left and set up his tavern,
hoping that it might earn him
enough to eventually get him out of the
city and back among his own people.
There is no trade in coin, of course, and
Basko’s business is largely conducted
through barter. Most often, he offers his
inn’s services in return for the foodstuffs,
spirits, and other commodities
necessary for both his own survival and
the continued operation of the establishment.
Occasionally, however, he offers a
bed or meal in return for favors or debts
to be repaid in the future. To all appearances,
Basko is yet another unfortunate
dwelling in the ruins of a once-great city, forced to make
do as best he can.
In reality, Basko is somewhat more than he seems.
In addition to living hand-to-mouth as an innkeeper, he
also helps refugees escape from the city. Basko has
accumulated a small stash of surplus supplies that he
conceals from the legates, and he has several hidden
rooms where fugitives can take refuge while he finds
them transport out of the city. This is usually arranged
through the sailors and ship captains who enjoy a soft
bed and hot meal in return for their complicity. Basko
himself rarely profits from his subterfuge, acting instead
out of simple empathy for those less fortunate and his
abiding hope for a better future.
Basko’s Inn
1. Walls: The inn’s walls were once stucco-covered
stone, but now they are a ruin, full of holes and
crudely patched here and there. They remain only marginally
useful, and periodically strong gusts of wind
extinguish all flames inside and even knock over mugs
full of beer.
2. Entrance: A door made from scavenged wood
10 Chapter Two: Highwall
is normally kept open, but is closed and barred at
night—not that this will provide any real protection, but
it does offer a certain level of psychological security for
those inside.
3. Main Room: This chamber is probably the
most pleasant in the establishment. It’s crowded with
rough tables and chairs, and usually full of patrons—
Highwall humans seeking shelter and the brief comfort
of companionship.
4. Kitchen: A small room with a stone oven, this
room is used by Basko and his staff to prepare meals
when food is available.
5. Larder: Supplies such as non-perishable food,
casks of ale, bottles of wine, utensils, and other items
are stored here, but the room is usually mostly empty
due to the chronic shortages in the city.
6. Basko’s Rooms: The innkeeper lives alone in
these two rooms. They are comfortable if sparsely furnished;
Basko is careful to make sure that furniture and
other items are placed so as to block or obscure the
doors that lead to the adjoining bolt holes.
7. Hidden Rooms: Carefully concealed (Search
DC 20) trapdoors lead to short shafts to what was originally
the inn’s cellar. Refugees can hide from the authorities
in these tiny, sparse chambers. Each room contains
a pallet bed and a table, and the walls are crowded and
cluttered with Basko’s contraband stores. Basko insists
that anyone using his facilities remain quiet and not
light candles, forcing them to lurk in the cold darkness
until he can arrange to have them smuggled out. Basko
sometimes works with the Beggar King to help these
unfortunates escape, and so far the legates have never
suspected him of anything but watering his wine.
5. Garrison
Orcs are generally not assigned to the waterfront,
save on official business or punishment duty. Order in
the lower portion of the city is kept by a unit of about
100 human warriors (aided, if necessary, by the troops
in Theros Obsidia Minor) under the command of
Mazaran Firewalker, an elven warrior of the Blackwood
Company. The humans of the watch are traitors to their
nations, drawn from the dregs of human society across
Erenland. They oversee the lower city with brutal efficiency,
taking what they want from whom they want.
They can be bribed, and Mazaran enforces ruthless discipline
if their conduct interferes with the flow of supplies
to the city above.
The garrison is housed in a ramshackle collection
of buildings here. It is not fortified, but is heavily guarded,
with armored human warriors with trained war dogs
patrolling the area at all times.